Athletic garment



Jan. 8, 1929.

G. w. CRUDEN ATHLETIC GARMENT Filed Dec. 22, 1927 m m M M M my wa a Patented Jan, 8, 1929.

UNITED STAT S {{PATE T OFFICE.

GEORGE W. ORUDEN, OF FREEPORT, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO A. G.,, SPALDING.&; BROSL,

'. OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

- ATHLETIC GARMENT.

. Application fi1ed December 22, 1927. Serial No. 241,757.

- where it is desired to attain the sameobjects.v

It will be readily understood that great freedom of movement is very essential in the '10 game of football and at the same time the garv ments worn by the players must be supplied with protective padding. 'Heretofore the .adding'has caused the garments to be cum- 'bersome and ill-fitting p The-present invention has for an ob ect the provision of a garment with a smallknee [which conforms closely to the knee of the player while running or standing and also gives him great freedom of movement in get- 1 ting down, kicking, etc.

, Other objects and advantages will be apparent as the description proceeds and reference will now be had to the accompanying drawings for a more detailed descriptlon of the invention.

Figure 1 is a View in front elevation showing the knee pants constructed in accordance with the present invention and provided with an elastic insert at the rear of the knee portion thereof.

Figure 2 is a rear View, partly broken away, showing the construction of the knee, and msert therein, in greater detail..

igure 3 is a sectiontaken on line 3-3 of Figure 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring-to the above figures of the drawings. a indicates, in this instance, a pair of football pants provided with the usual lacing- A0 means a, belt a and leg portions a At the knee of each leg portion a hem a is formed through which an elastic band I) is drawn. This serves to constrict the opening 'for the leg and cause the lower extremity of of the knee portion to fit closely to the calf or "knee. In garments, as now manufactured, this elasticband constitutes the only means for holding the garment against the leg As a result, the player is easily tackled and the 60 garment is loose fitting and clumsy. It is desirablethat the garment fit as tightly as -possible without impairing the freedom of movement of the player, and it is particularly desirable that the knee portion thereof be small. Accordingly, a V-shaped elastic insert 0 is provided at the rear of the knee portion. It is inserted by cutting out a V-shaped notch in the rear of the 'knee of the garment, the apex of the notch pointing upwardly and the elastic sewed in at 0 as shown in Figure 2.

v The elastic band I) is sewed to either side of the insert a and, in this manner, the complete elasticity is afforded around the knee. A conventional form of padding 0! is shown as secured to the front of the knee portion of the garment and a re-enforcing plate d pro-- vided between the garment and the pad. The

garment is cut so that no canvas is under the insert and, in this manner, the insert is freeto stretch to'accommodate any padding that is placed about the knee. i v

The above construction enables a knee pad to be used with the garment and yet not destroy the characteristic small knee which this elastic insert affords. As the knee pad worn in football is quite large, the garmenthas heretofore been made considerably oversize in order that such a pad may be accommodated. This added canvas which has heretofore been required in the garment is dispensed with by the present invention, since the gar- -ment can be made the normal size due to the capability of the V-shaped-insert to accommodate the knee pad. The nature of this insert enables the garment to stretch, not only at the lower extremity of the knee, but

a considerable distance up from the bottom.

All bagging which has been characteristic of the old garment due to the stretching of the band at the knee only, is thus eliminated, by

the provision of an elastic insert as described above.

The invention is not to be limited by the specific description and drawings presented herewith, but only in accordance with the scope as set forth in the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

An athletic garment of the character described comprising leg portions of knee length and formed of non-elastic material, a V-shaped elastic insert formed at the rear of the knee portion, the apex thereof extendmg upwardly from the lower edge of the material, and an elastic band secured at its ends to the base of the insert and extending around the knee, whereby the entire knee porti on will yield to receive padding.

This specification signed this 20th day of December,A. D. 1927.

GEORGE W. CRUDEN. 

